Consolidation process command center

Abstract

For a financial consolidation process, user input is received defining financial consolidation tasks for business entities and the tasks are associated with respective roles. The roles are assigned to persons who are responsible for completion of tasks associated with their respective roles. A graphical user interface is presented providing control elements and task icons representing the financial consolidation tasks for the business entities, including presenting a visual feature of each icon indicating status of each icon's respective task. Responsive to receiving a user input from a user control element for a selected task icon, identification is shown for a person assigned to the task of the selected task icon.

What is claimed is: 
     
       1. A system comprising:
 at least one computing processor; and 
 a computer-readable storage media connected to the at least one computing processor, wherein the computer-readable storage media has stored thereon a program for a financial consolidation process controlling the at least one computing processor, and wherein the at least one computing processor is operative with the program to execute the program to: 
 receive user input defining financial consolidation tasks for business entities, associating the tasks with respective roles and assigning the roles to persons who are responsible for completion of tasks associated with their respective roles; 
 present a graphical user interface providing control elements and task icons representing the financial consolidation tasks for the business entities, including presenting a view having the business entities along a business entity axis and the tasks along a task axis in a grid, where a respective one of the tasks for a respective one of the business entities is presented as a respective task icon at an intersection of the respective business entity on the business entity axis and the respective task on the task axis, and including presenting a visual feature of each task icon indicating status of each task icon's respective task, wherein each task icon status presented in the view includes receipt status of a financial consolidation submission for the icon's respective task so that the status of submissions is presented efficiently to the user; and 
 show in the same view, responsive to receiving a user selection of one of the task icons, an identification for a person assigned to the task of the selected task icon, wherein the status and person identification in the view enables the user to efficiently identify and contact assigned persons for expediting completion of missing submissions. 
 
     
     
       2. The system of  claim 1  wherein the at least one computing processor is operative with the program to execute the program to:
 show only a selected set of the task icons responsive to receiving a user input from a filter control element for selecting among all the tasks; and 
 perform an action for the tasks of the selected set of the task icons responsive to receiving a user input from an action control element. 
 
     
     
       3. The system of  claim 2  wherein performing the action includes sending communications to the persons responsible for the tasks of the selected set of the task icons. 
     
     
       4. The system of  claim 1 , wherein presenting a graphical user interface providing control elements comprises:
 showing a plurality of filter control elements for selecting among all the tasks, wherein ones of the filter control elements are business entity filter control elements and ones of the filter control elements are task filter control elements, each task filter control element being associated with a respective task status category, and wherein the at least one computing processor is operative with the program to execute the program to: 
 show on the grid of task icons only a selected set of the task icons responsive to receiving user inputs from ones of the plurality of filter control elements, wherein the graphical user interface enables concurrently applying both a business entity filter control elements and a task filter control element, including receiving a user input selecting tasks associated with user-selected business entities via at least one of the business entity filter control elements and receiving a user input selecting tasks having a user-selected task status via at least one of the task filter control elements and responsively showing in the selected set of the task icons only task icons for the user-selected business entities and that have the user-selected task status. 
 
     
     
       5. The system of  claim 4 , wherein ones of the filter control elements are person filter control elements, and wherein showing on the grid of task icons only a selected set of the task icons responsive to receiving user inputs from ones of the plurality of filter control elements comprises:
 receiving a user input selecting tasks associated with persons via at least one of the person filter control elements and responsively showing in the selected set of the task icons only task icons for the user-selected business entities and that have the user-selected task status and that are for the selected persons. 
 
     
     
       6. The system of  claim 4 , wherein the at least one computing processor is operative with the program to execute the program to:
 show how many business entities have a respective task status category for each respective business entity filter control element. 
 
     
     
       7. The system of  claim 4 , wherein the at least one computing processor is operative with the program to execute the program to:
 show how many tasks have a respective task status category for each respective task filter control element. 
 
     
     
       8. A computer program product for a financial consolidation, the computer program product comprising:
 a computer-readable storage medium; and 
 computer-readable program code embodied in the computer-readable storage medium, wherein the computer-readable program code is configured to cause at least one computing processor to: 
 receive user input defining financial consolidation tasks for business entities, associating the tasks with respective roles and assigning the roles to persons who are responsible for completion of tasks associated with their respective roles; 
 present a graphical user interface providing control elements and task icons representing the financial consolidation tasks for the business entities, including presenting a view having the business entities along a business entity axis and the tasks along a task axis in a grid, where a respective one of the tasks for a respective one of the business entities is presented as a respective task icon at an intersection of the respective business entity on the business entity axis and the respective task on the task axis, and including presenting a visual feature of each task icon indicating status of each task icon's respective task, wherein each task icon status presented in the view includes receipt status of a financial consolidation submission for the icon's respective task so that the status of submissions is presented efficiently to the user; and 
 show in the same view, responsive to receiving a user selection of one of the task icons, an identification for a person assigned to the task of the selected task icon, wherein the status and person identification in the view enables the user to efficiently identify and contact assigned persons for expediting completion of missing submissions. 
 
     
     
       9. The computer program product of  claim 8 , wherein the computer-readable program code is configured to cause at least one computing processor to:
 show only a selected set of the task icons responsive to receiving a user input from a filter control element for selecting among all the tasks; and 
 perform an action for the tasks of the selected set of the task icons responsive to receiving a user input from an action control element. 
 
     
     
       10. The computer program product of  claim 9  wherein performing the action includes sending communications to the persons responsible for the tasks of the selected set of the task icons. 
     
     
       11. The computer program product of  claim 8 , wherein presenting a graphical user interface providing control elements comprises:
 showing a plurality of filter control elements for selecting among all the tasks, wherein ones of the filter control elements are business entity filter control elements and ones of the filter control elements are task filter control elements, each task filter control element being associated with a respective task status category, and wherein the computer-readable program code is configured to cause at least one computing processor to: 
 show on the grid of task icons only a selected set of the task icons responsive to receiving user inputs from ones of the plurality of filter control elements, wherein the graphical user interface enables concurrently applying both a business entity filter control elements and a task filter control element, including receiving a user input selecting tasks associated with user-selected business entities via at least one of the business entity filter control elements and receiving a user input selecting tasks having a user-selected task status via at least one of the task filter control elements and responsively showing in the selected set of the task icons only task icons for the user-selected business entities and that have the user-selected task status. 
 
     
     
       12. The computer program product of  claim 11 , wherein ones of the filter control elements are person filter control elements, and wherein showing on the grid of task icons only a selected set of the task icons responsive to receiving user inputs from ones of the plurality of filter control elements comprises:
 receiving a user input selecting tasks associated with persons via at least one of the person filter control elements and responsively showing in the selected set of the task icons only task icons for the user-selected business entities and that have the user-selected task status and that are for the selected persons. 
 
     
     
       13. The computer program product of  claim 11 , wherein the computer-readable program code is configured to cause at least one computing processor to:
 show how many business entities have a respective task status category for each respective business entity filter control element. 
 
     
     
       14. The computer program product of  claim 11 , wherein the computer-readable program code is configured to cause at least one computing processor to:
 show how many tasks have a respective task status category for each respective task filter control element. 
 
     
     
       15. A method for a financial consolidation process, the method comprising:
 receiving user input defining financial consolidation tasks for business entities, associating the tasks with respective roles and assigning the roles to persons who are responsible for completion of tasks associated with their respective roles; 
 presenting a graphical user interface providing control elements and task icons representing the financial consolidation tasks for the business entities, including presenting a view having the business entities along a business entity axis and the tasks along a task axis in a grid, where a respective one of the tasks for a respective one of the business entities is presented as a respective task icon at an intersection of the respective business entity on the business entity axis and the respective task on the task axis, and including presenting a visual feature of each task icon indicating status of each task icon's respective task, wherein each task icon status presented in the view includes receipt status of a financial consolidation submission for the icon's respective task so that the status of submissions is presented efficiently to the user; and 
 showing in the same view, responsive to receiving a user selection of one of the task icons, an identification for a person assigned to the task of the selected task icon, wherein the status and person identification in the view enables the user to efficiently identify and contact assigned persons for expediting completion of missing submissions. 
 
     
     
       16. The method of  claim 15  comprising:
 showing only a selected set of the task icons responsive to receiving a user input from a filter control element for selecting among all the tasks; and 
 performing an action for the tasks of the selected set of the task icons responsive to receiving a user input from an action control element. 
 
     
     
       17. The method of  claim 16  wherein performing the action includes sending communications to the persons responsible for the tasks of the selected set of the task icons. 
     
     
       18. The method of  claim 15 , wherein presenting a graphical user interface providing control elements comprises:
 showing a plurality of filter control elements for selecting among all the tasks, wherein ones of the filter control elements are business entity filter control elements and ones of the filter control elements are task filter control elements, each task filter control element being associated with a respective task status category, and , and wherein the method comprises: 
 showing on the grid of task icons only a selected set of the task icons responsive to receiving user inputs from ones of the plurality of filter control elements, wherein the graphical user interface enables concurrently applying both a business entity filter control elements and a task filter control element, including receiving a user input selecting tasks associated with user-selected business entities via at least one of the business entity filter control elements and receiving a user input selecting tasks having a user-selected task status via at least one of the task filter control elements and responsively showing in the selected set of the task icons only task icons for the user-selected business entities and that have the user-selected task status. 
 
     
     
       19. The method of  claim 18 , wherein ones of the filter control elements are person filter control elements, and wherein showing on the grid of task icons only a selected set of the task icons responsive to receiving user inputs from ones of the plurality of filter control elements comprises:
 receiving a user input selecting tasks associated with persons via at least one of the person filter control elements and responsively showing in the selected set of the task icons only task icons for the user-selected business entities and that have the user-selected task status and that are for the selected persons. 
 
     
     
       20. The method of  claim 18 , comprising:
 showing how many business entities have a respective task status category for each respective business entity filter control element.